Filialkirche Pockhorn

The church of Pockhorn stands beside the Möll river below the Heiligenblut valley step. It belongs to the parish of Heiligenblut and is dedicated to Saint Martin. The building has been protected as a listed monument since the 20th century. The church first appears in records from 1389. Its choir was consecrated in 1516, the west door bears the date 1527, and the nave vault was finished in 1559. Every year on 5 January the Heiligenblut carol singers visit to perform the Grodeck song. The fabric was restored in 1959 and again prepared for renovation in 2012. The outside has a serpentinite plinth with water-drip edges. The two-bay choir ends in five sides and is set slightly south of the axis. North of the choir rises a tower with tracery windows, pointed gables and a tall spire added in 1898. Inside, the three-bay nave is covered by a net-ribbed vault on polygonal responds. A wooden gallery with two posts spans the west end. The high altar of the mid-18th century shows Saint Martin sharing his cloak, flanked by statues of Saints Nicholas and Julius and crowned by God the Father. The two side altars from about 1670 display remarkable scrollwork. One holds a late-17th-century figure of the Queen of Heaven, the other an image of the Holy Family. The pulpit from the last quarter of the 17th century is adorned with the Evangelists, and above the rood beam hangs a crucifix flanked by carved souls in purgatory.